Because his family keeps trying to convince us Mitt’s a regular guy, and it’s getting really awkward.
Ill Doctrine is a video blog on music, politics and culture, launched in 2007 by Jay Smooth. We will be premiering an episode a week on ANIMAL. Older episodes can be found at IllDoctrine.com and you can follow Jay on Twitter here.
Be careful what you wish for; Romney's son may be coming to a door near you to talk about dad, as one of them did here in NC. I suspect some people who opened the door to a Romney on the porch may have first thought he was there to foreclose on the house…
Nah, I like/love your commentary. It's cool that you are uber pro Obama, but you aren't really being fair here. Seriously, are we all to believe Michelle's diatribe on how when she was dating Barack he'd pick her up in a car with holes in the floorboards? Ivy league schools, several estates, etc, etc, but he was so poor he'd wear shoes a half size to small? Haha. I mean the guy breaks into a Southern Black preacher's dialect in certain parts of the country, then tries to be ghetto in others. But, Romney is "weird" for turning off the water heater??? How does this not offend you???
I get it. You've got a dog in this hunt. But your cred is shot here, man. Do you have ANYTHING to criticize your boy about? Anything? Can you be THAT objective, or is it just a plain, "no."
"Hope and Change" has become "Hope for Change" and you just got nothin … Interesting.
begging to differ, dude.
I can't speak for JSmooth, but I don't know that this was a comparison of political lies so much as a critique of a particular Romney characteristic; that of trying to appear "relatable", but missing the point. The hot water story is an example of this: it is one thing to take cold showers (something many people prefer not to do) as an effort to save money b/c you have to watch every penny; it's another thing to do this when you have piles of money, but you are just being cheap. Being cheap (or frugal) by choice is not the same as being poor, and when you do it when you are fairly well off, it's not easy to relate to; that's why people use "Scrooge" as an insult. While it can be difficult, it is possible to be wealthy and come from wealth and still understand this difference; that's called empathy. But Romney seems to continually demonstrate that he doesn't have a lot of that, and I think that is what is being criticized here. Not whether or not both candidates lie or exaggerate.
GPPGUY, What Michelle said wasn't a diatribe,and just because you're going to a college like Harvard dosen't make you rich—keep in mind, Obama didn't come from a rich family OR have a rich daddy to pave every step of his way—you conveniently forgot about that. {lus, if I'm not mistaken, Obama actually had to work during college, like a lot of people do. And Romney basically made it clear in his private event that he believes, for whatever the reason, that 47% of us are dependent on a government that we pay enough taxes to work for US,and that he could give less a damn about us 47% that aren't interested in voting for another rich candidate who can't relate at all to the struggles of everyday people.
BTW, ALL of us break into different patterns of speaking depending on who we're talking to–nothing unusual about that—there's the formal professional way of speaking, then there's the informal way you talk when you're around your family and friends. You make it sound like Obama was putting on some kind of act when the average person (or more likely, the average person of color) does that each and EVERY day. I ain't saying Obama's beyond reproach—he's done some things that I didn't like or agree with at all—compromising with the Rethugs on the Bush tax breaks, starting an unneeded war in Libya, bending over backwards to get Dems/Repubs to work together,despite the fact that the Repubs have done everything they can to try and get him out of office, and blocked half of everything he's tried to pass. And he needs to toughen up for the next debate big time and make a better case for continuing to be our next President. So that's how it is right now for the Prez.
Also would like to say to Jay Smooth that I've enjoyed this blog for the past couple of years (especially the "Little Hater" tune–loved that one!) and all your comments on everything political and social, which are usually right on the mark. Keep doing what you're doing and screw the haters!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH… this has been what i've been thinking for the longest time. they act like the fact that all the kids can shower and dress themselves makes this a "nice" family. but this crap is weird, and just bec the romneys wear khakis and don't go out in public smelling bad doesn't mean they are in any way like everybody else. this is weird and these folks have some strange ideas about how regular people exist in the world. and mitt just sounds like an immature jerk in these "folksy" family tales of theirs. namaste
PEACE – My comments above weren't meant to debate the specifics of politics. I shouldn't have used campaign examples to try and make my point.
I was hoping to goad Mr. Smooth, who I uniquely respect and immensely admire, to reflect both sides of the coin. I felt he was being unfair to the Romneys by picking on certain of their idiosyncrasies as reported by a liberally biased media. To be fair, the Obamas are just as idiosyncratic (check out Fox News). At least, you could easily make them so, if one was so inclined. I wondered if he could be fair about it?
I would like it if Mr. Smooth would take some of his SPOT ON observations and commentary and use them to bring out the truth of if ALL. IMHO this election stuff is too Hollywood. Chock full of fakery and lies – FROM BOTH SIDES. It seems to me, pointing out ALL of it would go further toward changing a broken system. Perhaps changing the system isn't Mr. Smooth's intention. My apologies if I mistakenly imposed this upon him. It just seemed to me "system change" was an underlying them throughout most of these commentaries.
For me, "one, or the other – NOT both." Doesn't jibe.
You are right. Romney will never be relateable.
Unless…we take all his money away and give him his own "the simple life" spinof. But it's real. And he has to work in a warehouse. For 30 years. And then looses his pension. And his dog dies.
Then I will relate to him.
But seriously now, thanks for the video.